Magic Hour
Canon 5D Mark ll, 100mm macro 2.8, 4.0 aperture, 1/160 shutter, 100 ISO, reflector used to cast warm light back onto hourglass from front.
We all feel it, the rush and press of time moving so swiftly. I felt it today as I passed a group of mothers and their young children outside the mall area on the way into our movie. My heart yearned for those days of balancing a young toddler on my hip while clasping the hand of another as she pulled me to go in her direction. ” So fast…”. I mouthed the words in sadness. Was I in those moments enough? Was I present enough to hold them and cherish them before they flew away? Did I twirl the curly locks on sweet heads long and lazily as they fell into slumber? Did I breathe in the sweet scent of their skin in the morning sunshine, sleep still clinging to their lashes? Did I read “one more story” a thousand times and over again? Did I cradle pudgy fingers with crayons, blow bubbles until we were all sticky, or let them stay in the bathtub a little longer just because there were new toys and hair is fun to make into shampoo-ice-cream cones?
Inherently I know this is my only chance to slow time. The secret. To be in it, and be grateful. To cherish and let my heart enlarge with the goodness of life and love in this moment. This moment is the only one I can hold.
Ann Voskamp puts it oh, so eloquently. “I redeem time from neglect and apathy and inattentiveness when I swell with thanks and weigh the moment down and it’s giving thanks to God for this moment that multiplies moments, time made enough.” ~ One Thousand Gifts
Gratitude is not just a sweet, benign word. Gratitude saves me from myself. It is a powerful force to protect me from rushing into the next moment, leaving this one bereft and empty. Empty moments just end up looking like shadows, shells, of what they really were. They stack up on one another marking time, but not savoring it. Moments captured, slowed, in a grateful heart are able to fully blossom. We are enriched and life is sweeter. Time slows, as scales fall from eyes that were hurry-blurred. The dam is lifted and my heart swells with the rising waters of the goodness of God. ” Thank You…”. I whisper it, and sadness flees.
Psalm 116:12 ~”What shall I return to the LORD for all his goodness to me?”
Slowing Time in Sunlight
4 Comments
i don’t think you missed many moments as Katie, Annie, and Johnny were growing up. You are “Mommy” to the core – still your words ring so true.
“Now” is the only moment that God can be experienced – may i be fully in it.
So insightful! So true!
Oh goodness… this one REALLY got me! You don’t know how often I think the same thing. I just want to take-in every SINGLE moment with my kids. Even though I need a full-time chiropractor, I want to hold and carry them as long as I can. Great post… as always!
Christy,
You are a softy like me. Doesn’t surprise me one bit!:)